Biggles porté manquant (Aredit comic)/plot
The section headings below are not used in the comic album and are inserted here to make comparison with the original easier. The corresponding chapter numbers in the original book are shown in brackets. Biggles is Missing (Chapters I and II) The prelude to the rescue mission is told over nine pages and is faithful to the original. The various elements that led Algy to suspect something has gone wrong are all depicted: Biggles goes on leave but does not give a address or phone number, and he is meant to be guest of honour at a dinner with another squadron. Raymond describes where Biggles went and what happened in some detail, only, the plane used does not look like a Berline Breguet, but more like a Westland Lysander (which is implausible). Raymond does ask for a reasonable plan from Algy but the plan (which occupied much of Chapter II originally) is much briefer here. There is no discussion of covers like selling onions or being a troubadour. In fact they do not use these covers in this adaptation at all. The plan appears simply to be parachuting down into Monaco in civilian clothes. Henri Ducoste meets them at their airbase and discusses details with them. He does mention his Monaco background and his mother and sister but there is no discussion of the danger of using the Californie landing ground. He simply drops them over the valley at La Turbie. The Road to Monte Carlo (Chapter III) Ginger does not narrowly avoid being spotted by two policemen on the way down to Monaco. He doesn't encounter a policeman at the old mountain railway station either. He goes straight to the Cafe de Lyons (the artist got this detail right). The policeman is already there. In this adaptation, the policeman is the one doing most of the talking and not the innkeeper. He mentions that there is uncertainty whether the English spy was arrested by the Italian police or not, and he tells Ginger who Zabani is. The Writing on the Wall (Chapter IV) At the quay, Ginger sees Bertie turning abruptly being pursued by a boatman. He then looks for writing on the wall and sees the words about Chez Rossi and Pernod. However, he does not go back to Cafe de Lyons to ask for directions. He arrives in time for lunch--the same meal of fish soup. Ginger reads the Pernod card with the words about Villa V and Mario and like in the original, he is noticed by the waiter. He does something extra: he addresses the waiter by name and so discovers that he is Mario. Mario asks how he knew his name and he replies that someone had praised his cooking. Ginger mounts surveillance on the restaurant and follows Mario when he comes out. Like in the original, Mario is wearing a smart suit now. Ginger sees Mario enter and then run out of the Villa Valdora. He sneaks inside. Obviously Zabani has been murdered. The dead Zabani with the paper with a Camorra "C" is mentioned later in the comic strip but this entire scene is not drawn! All we see is Ginger looking througn a door and saying he knows what Mario came to do and it's horrible. The rest of the action here is the same: the police arrive, Ginger is shot while trying to escape, he binds his wound with some laundry and then staggers to Henri's mother's house. Bertie Meets a Friend (Chapter V) The episode involving Bertie running into Francois Budette is covered faithfully, all the way to Francois going off to check the writing on the wall and making discreet enquiries. Bertie then goes to Chez Rossi himself. He orders soup and sees Mario arriving. He notices that Mario appears uneasy but there isn't a scene where he spies on Mario washing blood from his dagger. Strange Encounters (Chapter VI) Budette finds Bertie outside Chez Rossi to give him the news about Ginger. The conversation here follows the original. Budette describes how Zabani had been stabbed and a letter "C" was placed on him and he asks if Ginger was a Camorrista. Bertie decides to go and confront Mario, after all, Budette had earlier said he was a Camorrista. The confrontation between Bertie and Mario takes place much as described. Good Samaritans (Chapter VII) Bertie ends up unconscious on the Escalier Ste. Devote where he is discovered by a woman. He lights candles at the chapel as the woman asks but the priest who greets Bertie does not appear in the adaptation. Bertie then meets Jeannette at the Quai de Plaisance and follows her to her house where Ginger is recovering. Jock's Bar (Chapter VIII) Every detail of Algy's exploits in Nice is faithfully depicted: his discovery of the words on the wall at Jock's Bar, seeing the blood stain, entering the kiosk and being seized by Gordino and a gendarme. He takes out Gordino and the gendarme is precisely the same way as described in the original text and then flees. The only difference is how he buys the bicycle. He does not have to pay an exhorbitant price of a thousand francs for it. Here, when Algy tells him he is an Englishman on a secret mission, the bike owner gives it to him free. He refuses to take any payment when Algy offers. At Californie Algy sees men rendering the landing ground unusable. He then rides back through Nice to Eze where he has a flat tyre. The Girl in the Blue Shawl (Chapter IX) Like in the original, Algy has a "mediocre" meal in a cafe when he spots police looking at his bicycle so he escapes through the kitchen of the cafe. He tells the people inside that they are helping France if they forget that they had seen him. He then makes his way down the mountainside to the lower corniche. He then helps fix the engine of a truck and gets a ride to the quay at Monaco. He doesn't take a swim but there is a drawing of him spending the night in a fisherman's shed. The next morning he spots a girl writing on a wall but obviously the drawing can't show if she is wearing a blue shawl and Algy doesn't remark about it. The words are "Castillon. A la bonne cuisine. Mayday." (in the original, it was "Castillon. Au bon cuisine. Mayday"--obviously in a French comic they had to get the gender right). Algy asks Francois about Castillon and he does make the same joke about cats, more briefly, but he is not exactly churlish or hostile. Algy later spots the girl in the shawl again and follows her. Actually in the original, it was Jeannette who was passing by on the quay. Shattering News (Chapter X) Back in Jeannette's house (the Rue Mariniere address is not mentioned in the adaptation), Bertie and Ginger discuss plans. There is no hint of Ginger having any interest in Jeannette. The romantic angle is totally absent in the adaptation. And here, Jeannette is drawn as having short light hair whereas in the original, she had dark hair. The police had come to the door and Jeannette's mother tells them it was about Henri's capture. Jeannette mentioned that she saw a girl in a shawl writing on the wall by the quay. Bertie thinks it could be a new message and wants to go take a look but Jeannette says it is safer for her to go instead. This is slightly different from the original where she had already seen the new message and didn't have to leave the house again. She comes back and tells them about the message. Bertie plans to go to Castillon and he asks Ginger to rest. They would plan to help Henri on his return. After Bertie departs, Ginger gets up and plans to go after Henri. As in the original, Jeanette's mother goes to get a donkey from her sister while Jeannette fixes Ginger up to look like a Monagesque. Ginger departs on the donkey. The name of Lucille is not mentioned, nor is there any discussion of the cover story of fetching olive oil from Monsieur Bonafacio. The Cats of Castillon (Chapter XI) Algy's journey to Castillon takes place much as in the original. He rides the bus with the taciturn Mario. Only the locals seem more knowledgeable. When their bus is stopped for a military convoy, one of them tells Algy that the Allies had landed in North Africa and so Italy had occupied the entire coast. On the bus to Sospel, he is with Mario again and then by foot to Castillon. A knife is thrown at Algy, he confronts Mario and then the Princess takes him prisoner. Bertie Picks a Lemon (Chapter XII) Bertie doesn't use a lemon in this adaptation! He goes to Francois, who hooks him up with his friend who has a camionette bound for St. Agnes. The only embellishment is that Bertie treats Francois and his friend to lunch before departure. Berties walks from St. Agnes to Castillon. He spots Algy and is then confronted by Mario. He doesn't have a lemon to throw in this case--he uses a high kick to relieve Mario of his dagger and then an upper cut to floor him. The conversation between him and Mario and later with the Princess is roughly the same, except he doesn't have a guitar, so it is not about singing to a princess. But he seeks a princess because only she can tell him where his best friend Biggles is. Here the exchange between the Princess and Mario about him not telling her about killing Zabani is not depicted. As a kind of password, Bertie tells the princess he wants to see her "bonne cuisine" but he doesn't trace a triangle with his foot. Pilgrimage to Pielle (Chapter XIII) Ginger gets to Peille and asks a boy the way to the sanatorium but here he doesn't give the boy a sous. The way he grabs a white coat and rescues Henri faithfully follows the original. Henri goes to get the donkey while Ginger creates a diversion by stealing the police vehicle but in this case it is a car and not a van. After the car crashes into the ravine he climbs back up and finds Henri and they proceed to Castillon. La Bonne Cuisine (Chapter XIV) The Princess takes Bertie and Algy to meet Biggles. They update each other about what had happened. Biggles' backstory is faithful to the original. After the Princess rescued him, they hid among the rocks and then swam to Nice. She pulls him into Jock's Bar. Interestingly, Jock's Bar appears to be functioning, with a bartender and all. The Princess fetches Mario and they take himin his ambulance to Castillon. In the original it was the Princess who wrote the words on the Quai drawing attention to Pernod and Chez Rossi. Here it is Mario. He also promises Biggles that "Zabani will not remain dangerous for long". He didn't tell the Princess he would kill Zabani in the original. Conference at Castillon (Chapter XV) Mario warns about someone approaching. In this adaptation several drawings are devoted to showing they taking defensive positions. Ginger and Henri are greeted and Henri is nursed by the Princess. The conversation between Ginger and the rest is briefer and there is no exchange of words about Jeannette or Bertie about women in general. They spot the planes flying over and consider stealing one. They make the same plan: Mario fetches the ambulance, Biggles, Bertie and Ginger depart in it for Monaco. At the port they see the poster signed by Gordino announcing that Henri's mother and sister would be taken as hostages unless Henri is recaptured. Biggles Takes Over (Chapter XVI) This part is depicted faithfully. Biggles sends Bertie to gather information about the flying boats from Francois. Meanwhile the others steal two Italian uniforms. They fetch Mario and use his ambulance to go an "arrest" Henri's mother and Jeannette. They then pick up Bertie and leave the town. The only embelishment is that Biggles asks Ginger to sit in front with Mario. In case they are stopped, his knowledge of Italian could be useful (the only time we are told that he could speak Italian). Plan for Escape (Chapter XVII) The escape plan shapes up differently from the original. Bertie is asked to take the donkey back to Monaco to brief Francois about his role. He arrives at Francois' house. He passes Francois a large sum of money and then Francois departs in his boat to Cap Martin to collect the others. Some time later, Mario drops Biggles off near Monaco in the ambulance and he joins Bertie. In the original, Ginger and Biggles were the ones to call on Francois and the donkey was not used. Also, Francois said his wife did not know about what he had to do and they simply rested at the house before the time to move. Here, Francois' wife is fully in the know. She cooks Bertie and Biggles a big meal and tells them to rest and she would wake them up at midnight when it's time. How the Rendezvous was Kept (Chapter XVIII) Bertie and Biggles swim out to one of the marine aircraft. The type of aircraft is not named in the adaptation, and they are floatplanes, not flying boats. There's a crewman on board and Biggles makes him jump off before they start up. They do encounter a ship coming in just as they are about to take off. There are a few embellishments here and there. Bertie discovers a pack of cigarettes on board and offers Biggles one. The rendezvous at Cap Martin is made without incident. There are no searchlights or gunfire from warships like in the original. Farewell to France (Chapter XIX) The flight to Algiers takes place without incident--they are not intercepted by three Hurricanes. At Algiers, Biggles tells the Princess that his problems are just beginning. If she hated writing reports as much as he did, she would understand why. Category:Plot summaries (derivative works)